AFTRA Portland Signatory Gets "Leverage"

Posted July 16, 2010

What happens when one of the hottest series on cable television wants to use your recording studio as a shooting location for an upcoming episode?

The folks at AFTRA signatory Rex Post Recording in Portland recently found out - and it involved more than just bringing in a few lights, cameras and boom mics.

When "Leverage" director Jonathan Frakes ("Star Trek: The Next Generation") was scouting locations for an episode entitled "The Studio Job" earlier this year, Rex Post was a natural candidate. The episode for the AFTRA-covered program on TNT called for scenes to be shot in a Memphis record company, and the team at Rex had already developed a strong relationship with the show's producers by providing a variety of post-production services for the series since it set up shop in The Rose City in the spring of 2009. Even though the decision wasn't automatic - several other facilities were scouted as well - Rex's plush interior design and flexible layout, and the staff's familiarity with the complex and challenging logistics of television and film production, won the day.

But, "getting the gig" was, as they say, only the first step. Before taking its turn on-camera, Rex had to spend a bit of time "in wardrobe": the "Leverage" set crew gave the interior shooting locations a substantial redress, transforming Rex into "Kirkland Records", the Memphis Country-&-Western music company where major portions of the story take place. The verisimilitude was completed by recruiting two of Rex's staff: General Manager/Chief Engineer Russ Gorsline and Business Manager Tara Krick were selected by Frakes to appear as background performers, as a mixing assistant and a receptionist, respectively.

After its "star turn" of course, everything was returned to normal. Although filming for "The Studio Job" was completed, there was still work yet to do and Rex naturally fell back into its familiar relationship with the series by recording two musical numbers for the episode, performed by series regular Christian Kane (Elliott Spencer) and guest star Alona Tal (Kaye Lynn Gold).

This just goes to show that even locations for major TV programs are well-advised to "keep their day job."

"Leverage" starring Timothy Hutton airs Sunday evenings, 9:00 p.m./8:00 p.m. Central, on Turner Network Television. "The Studio Job" aired, Sunday, July 18th and repeats Thursday, July 22nd, 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time and Sunday, July 25th, 10:00 a.m. ET.

AFTRA Portland Signatory Gets "Leverage"

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